Today I’d like to share a couple of wonderfully helpful articles out there in teh interwebs/blogosphere relating to writing and submitting fiction (though some of the advice might very well apply to other forms of writing)…

First, let’s start with the writing, because if you haven’t written anything, you can’t submit it! My favourite ‘crabbit old bat’ (her own words), AKA Nicola Morgan, has written a thoroughly bloody brilliant post about Story Structure and Shape. She likens the peaks and troughs of a story’s structure to breathing – and she is completely right! This is a truly top article from a truly top blogger. Read it and follow her. That is an order.

Next, we move on to the scary world of submissions… Now, as I haven’t finished writing a novel (yet), I haven’t started on that particular merry-go-round/rollercoaster/other speedy, spinney ride, but that doesn’t stop me (like other aspiring writers) from thinking about when that time comes and researching how it works. Forwarned is forearmed. Or something.

So, yes, let’s think about submitting our work to publishers…

Do the words ‘slush pile’ send doomladen shivers down your spine? Don’t have a clue how to submit to one? Want to know how to stand the best chance of getting that submission read? Then Daniel Clay’s A Winning Strategy for Escaping the Slush Pile is just what you need. It’s written in a very readable and humble style that imparts lots of useful information and offers that thing that us writers need to cling to – hope. (Via Girl Meets World – an informative blog from a fellow aspiring writer.)

And finally, I leave you with something non-writing-related but which (I hope) will prettify this post and perhaps even tantalise your tastebuds… Here’s a very cute turtle cupcake and the recipe/instructions: